Something you may wish to quote the next time a Labour supporter bemoans how the Liberal Democrats "allowed" David Cameron and the Conservatives to get into power in 2010: Labour deputy leader @tom_watson says it's "not a question of Labour trying to bring the government down, it's actually a question of Labour trying to help the government get a good deal and try and stop the government bringing itself down" pic.twitter.com/29ykYCF1vF — Sky News Politics (@SkyNewsPolitics) July 10, 2018 (For supporting material, see the 21 extreme Conservative policies the Lib Dems blocked, the many Lib Dem policies enacted during coalition ...

Since the European referendum, there has been a small but clear and persistent move in public opinion towards the pro-European viewpoint. The movements have, however, been small. For an issue that has (rather rarely in politics) been one of sustained public interest, with many twists along the way, it's perhaps surprising that there hasn't been greater movement, not even in the form of bouncing back and forth between pro and anti. Why? John Curtice and Sarah Tipping reckon that the stability in views is because they now so closely reflect people's values and sense of identity – factors which therefore ...

Figures released by the ONS this morning show that GDP growth for the three months to May was just 0.2%, with services the only positive contributor to growth, and both construction and manufacturing contracting. Commenting on the figures, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake said:"These unimpressive growth figures, with manufacturing and construction declining and services the only sector keeping the economy afloat, highlight the utter inadequacy of the so-called plan 'agreed' by the Cabinet last Friday.The Chequers Agreement, by conceding lower access for services to crucial EU markets, leaves 80% of our economy exposed after Brexit. "The only way to ...

Catherine Bearder MEP, Chair of the MEPs For Wildlife group reacts to the shocking Avaaz study on ivory released today.Avaaz, in collaboration with Oxford University, tested 100 pieces of ivory across the EU and found 74% were from elephants killed after the 1947 CITES ban. Bearder said:"These shocking results show that the supposed 'legal' ivory market is actually driving the mindless slaughter of elephants."It is time for all EU countries to introduce a full ivory ban with a limited number of exceptions for exceptional art works."

There is no leadership from the government, the Labour Party and we are not getting through. We are letting a golden opportunity pass by. Pointing fingers at the government and repeating, "Exit from Brexit" is not enough. We need a full programme that offers hope. I am reminded of the golden memories of he most successful campaign I was involved in, the Newbury by-election. This took place when the Tories were in trouble. A key to this campaign was the Newbury Declaration. a summary of the then current mess and an offer of hope. We need a similar declaration now. ...

Second paragraph of third story ("Robbie"): She craned her neck to investigate the possibilities of a clump of bushes to the right and then withdrew farther to obtain a better angle for viewing its dark recesses. The quiet was profound except for the incessant buzzing of insects and the occasional chirrup of some hardy bird, braving the midday sun. As with the companion anthology, Robot Dreams, this included a lot of stories which I had fairly recently returned to in The Complete Robot and did not especially like; a smaller number of stories which were new to me and which ...

It was recently reported that the police were not investigating the allegations of Perverting the Course of Justice that I had made. This came as a surprise to me as I had been told for some time that my allegations were to be considered once the VRR had been rejected. I have now had a very constructive meeting with Staffordshire police on Friday 29th June 2018 and the misunderstandings have been

Ahead of this afternoon's Lib Dem Commons debate on the People's Vote, Layla Moran has been on Victoria Derbyshire to talk about what a mess Brexit is turning out to be, how people didn't really know at the time of the referendum exactly what it was going to mean and how we need a People's Vote on the deal. See a clip here. 'It is a complete mess ... @BorisJohnson hasn't come up with an alternative plan'#Labour's @BenPBradshaw and #LibDem @LaylaMoran on #Brexit. pic.twitter.com/XiHDB9S1J5 — Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) July 10, 2018 Or watch on iPlayer here.

A new report takes stock of how metrics are being used and abused in research management across UK universities In his 2003 bestseller Moneyball, the writer Michael Lewis describes how the fortunes of the Oakland Athletics baseball team were transformed by the rigorous use of predictive data and modelling to identify undervalued talent. These approaches soon spread through baseball and into other sports, and are now widely used in the financial sector, recruitment industry and elsewhere, to inform hiring and promotion decisions. A recent study by researchers at the MIT Sloan School of Management suggests that universities are ripe for ...

Yesterday there was a collective sigh of relief within the Westminster village when Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson finally resigned. His sudden departure from one of the four great offices of state had been looming for months; the only question was: would Prime Minister Theresa May sack him or would he quit? It was probably quite [...]

Think about it. Have you ever seen graphic footage of the Blitz? Not cheery chaps sifting through some light rubble with the WVS serving tea nearby. No, nothing like that. But bodies and horror. The footage exists. A little was shown in the 1970s in the series "The World at War" but generally we are much more familiar with appalling images of the Holocaust than we are with the facts of area bombing either in Germany or Britain. The scale is hard to grasp now. Over 600 dead and nearly 900 injured in two nights of bombing in Southampton alone. ...

Lesbians come out in support of trans people after group blocks Pride parade If you like what you see here (or even if you don't) please consider dropping me a tip: [IMG: Paypal Donate Button] [IMG: Buy Me an uncaffeinated beverage (because I'm allergic to coffee) at ko-fi.com] [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

Mon, 12:56: I've Got Some Things to Say https://t.co/psfO9HUc1u Romelu Lukaku's searing personal story. Mon, 13:43: Semi-final anticipation, part one https://t.co/5KXfwSOqzW Mon, 16:05: David Davis: In the end, there was nothing behind the swagger https://t.co/m6GMDMYJNK Indeed. Mon, 16:44: RT @eucopresident: Politicians come and go but the problems they have created for people remain. I can only regret that the idea of #Brexit... Mon, 16:44: RT @damonwake: Brussels wind-up merchant in chief @JunckerEU on the Boris and Davis resignations: "This clearly proves that at Chequers the... Mon, 18:01: Trying to track down when in 1979 (or earlier) two cabinet ministers resigned ...

Yesterday was one of the strangest days in politics I've ever seen. In the midst of two cabinet resignations, left-wing commentators had a field day talking about how the end of the government was nigh, while right-wing commentators oddly tried to bring that about themselves, going on and on about the death of Brexit and how hundreds of Tory MPs were going to vote against May's deal. Meanwhile, Theresa May herself again had two of her most senior cabinet members quit on her in the same day – and somehow emerged from it much stronger as a result. Make no ...

The point of focus here are the propensity interpretation of probability theory, in which probabilities are physical tendencies that cause events. Contemporary interest in the interpretation is down to Karl Popper and been picked up by Mellor. It is now playing a role in the dispositional metaphysics of objective chance. The origins and initial philosophical discussion of probability can be traced to Pascal and Leibniz and, it is argued, something close to the propensity interpretation attributable to Leibniz too. This role of Leibniz came as surprise on reading The Emergence of Probability by Ian Hacking. Hacking presents Leibniz as the ...

Harold Wilson once said "a week is a long time in politics"... The last few days make that sound like an understatement. On Sunday I offered something to Liberal Democrat Voice suggesting that it's time to switch the language on Brexit into an explicit attack on "Tory Brexit". The resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson take that a great deal further. I'm writing this now wondering whether there will be another resignation before it is read on Liberal Democrat Voice, and whether we will be in another Tory leadership contest, or hurtling into a General Election. There's been forceful ...

Reading Adair Turner's lecture on the implications of robotics on the economy has been an inspiration. Following my blog last week, I want to develop the thinking to try and get a better focus for liberal policymakers. The first point to make is that although the current kerfuffle is around the advance of machine learning ... Continue reading The new economics: five things to worry less about

South Glos has advised that they will be resurfacing the length of Sundridge Park from the Kennedy Way junction with Kennedy Way southwards for 410 metres. That's down to the St Paul's School and yate International Academy entrances. Work should start around 6th August and take 10 days, working from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm. The notice officially says that it will be in force "from the 6 August 2018 for a maximum period of eighteen months" but in practice the road will only be closed when the signs are in position. What's more, the length of Kennedy Way from ...

It seems to me that in the two years or so since the referendum result condemned us to the disastrous chaos that masquerades as a Brexit process the only group that has come out of it with any dignity is the European Commission. They were at it again yesterday, demonstrating the sort of sangfroid that has marked their approach to the negotiations in the face of the shit-storm that is the UK Government. As Theresa May once more sought to rebuild her cabinet, having lost six cabinet members since June 2017, the Commission's spokesperson, metaphorically at least, shrugged his shoulders, ...

I have photographed this (infamous)* site a number of times so that there's a record of it as prime high grade, productive agricultural land before the bulldozers arrive at some point in the future. But it is a huge site bounded by Poverty Lane, the M58 Motorway, School Lane and The Liverpool – Ormskirk railway line so it's hard to get a good shot of it all. Here's my latest attempt:- The photo was taken from the Ashworth Motorway Junction bridge and you can see the vastness of the site, which will soon be filled with around 1600 houses and ...

In his excellent recent article 'Who should decide about immigration', Radix contributor Renaud Giraud asks how, in a democracy, we should decide about who has a right to migrate to our country. In the current intense debate in the UK about customs union, partnership, max fac, max fac plus and any variants therefore, Conservative (and [...] The post Why immigration matters more than customs union appeared first on Radix.

Readers are invited to hear Alrene Hughes talk about her books at Radcliffe Library on Thursday 26 July. Alrene's latest novel "The Girl in the Pink Raincoat" (published by Head of Zeus) is set in Manchester and Bury during the Second World War. While researching the novel, she was surprised to come across the notorious history of Warth Mills, and the hardships suffered by internees and the effects this had on their families and loved ones. Alrene has also written "Martha's Girl", "The Golden Sisters" and "A Song in my Heart". The event starts at 7.30pm and refreshments will be ...